


rosaceae malus

by inkelle



Series: fallen [2]
Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Angels, Angels and Demons, Gen, Minor Violence, biblical, hyunjin/heejin mention, loonaverse, no one is very nice but there's reasons for that, unconfirmed theories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 23:10:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14725397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkelle/pseuds/inkelle
Summary: “I loved all of you. But you tried to keep me in the dark, about Eden, about everything. And you promised me free will, and you promised this was about love and light and—”“This isn’t Earth," Hyunjin spits.





	rosaceae malus

“You.”

The girl’s arm falls away from the low branch of the tree, her hair catching the fullness of the sunlight as she turns around. Her wide eyes glint with recognition.

She smiles, tilts her head. “Hi, unnie.”

Hyunjin snorts, crossing her arms. “You can’t call me that anymore.”

“Hah… okay, hi, _Hyunjin_. Think fast.”

The girl tosses Hyunjin something too fast for her to see. She catches it anyway, cups the solid, waxy weight in her hands with a mixture of trepidation and disgust.

“Really?”

“My favourite.”

Hyunjin tightens her grip. The apple collapses in one sudden burst: Blink and you miss it.

The young angel pouts as the pieces fall through Hyunjin’s fingers. “That one was _perfect_.”

Hyunjin condenses the air around her hand to melt the stickiness and grinds her heel into the fruit now scattered on the grass. “You think this is all a joke.”

The girl shrugs, turns to pluck another apple. “I never said that. But it’s true that it’s not as serious as you all make it out to be.”

“Just how important do you think you are?”

"I’m not,” says the girl. Hyunjin can hear the smile in her voice and it’s infuriating.

“You’re out of your depth, Jiwoo.”

She laughs now, openly. “Oh? You can’t call me that anymore.”

Hyunjin frowns.

“It’s Chuu,” she continues, as she plucks another apple and examines it closely. “Chuuuuu. Kinda cute, right?”

“You’ve always been foolish.”  
  
“Foolish!” Chuu exclaims, pausing in her perusal of another fruit. “You’ve been hanging out with Heejin. How is she, by the way? Healing nicely?”

Hyunjin ignores the jab. “Where’s Olivia?”

“Have an apple, why don’t you, unnie?”

Chuu is suddenly at her side, offering up another apple in both hands, dark eyes blinking prettily. Her smile is so wide, so _sincere._

Hyunjin scoffs. “Yeah, right.” 

Chuu rolls her eyes. “It’s not going to make you Fall, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Among other things,” Hyunjin mutters, taking a step back as Chuu moves closer.

“We’re already out of Eden! I can’t get more fruit, I’m not Choerry.”

Hyunjin’s eyes narrow. “You know where Choerry is?”

“Does anyone?” Chuu sighs. “And speaking of missing persons—Yeojin’s not back yet, is she?” She tosses the apple up in the air—catches it, only to throw it again.

“Like I would tell you.”

“So that’s a no.” Chuu catches the apple again and bites into it brazenly. 

“Where,” says Hyunjin lowly, “is Olivia?”

Munching loudly, Chuu turns to the left to check behind her, then to the right to survey the other side. She turns back to Hyunjin with a shrug. “She’s not here.”

Hard sunlight catches in Hyunjin’s right hand, builds up behind her back. She raises it to throw. “ _You_ —”

Chuu catches Hyunjin’s wrist with her free hand, still smiling. “Aw, unnie, I don’t think so.”

And she twists, harsh and unforgiving, disparate from her wide, innocent eyes. Hyunjin doesn’t scream but by _God—_

She falls to her knees, supporting herself on her left hand, breathing heavily.

Chuu takes another bite of her apple.

She crouches down slowly, leaning forward so that Hyunjin can feel her breath warm against the shell of her ear. She is not smiling anymore.

“You sent Haseul to make me forget.”

“That—” Hyunjin gasps for air. “That was Heejin.”

“Heejin, Hyunjin,” says Chuu contemptuously, “Same thing. You’re her right hand. You _love_ her.”

The way she says _love_ makes Hyunjin’s sick to her stomach. No one should know about that. No one _can_ know about that _._

“I loved her too,” says Chuu, pulling back and standing. “I loved all of you. But you tried to keep me in the dark, about Eden, about _everything_. And you promised me free will, and you promised this was about _love_ and _light_ and—”

“This isn’t Earth,” Hyunjin spits, lifting her head to face Chuu even though she needs to squint in the sun. “You can’t just call something love and make it so.” 

“So what you feel for her isn’t love?”

Hyunjin doesn’t reply.

“That’s what I thought. Listen, this whole game the Archangels are playing—it’s not going to work out like before.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You think I don’t know about the loop? You guys really do think I’m dumb.”

“How could you possibly—”

“Olivia Hye,” says Chuu, smile returning bright as ever, “is not as ignorant as she’s been making herself out to be.”

Hyunjin almost laughs. So Heejin’s suspicions were right. “Now why would you tell me that?”

Chuu grins. One more bite. “There’s a new variable in this equation—and I don’t just mean Yeojin. I’m just giving you a heads-up. Trying to be a fair sport, and all.” 

Hyunjin’s mind races. A new variable? This story isn’t supposed to change—it isn’t supposed to end. She has to get back to Heejin.

Her right hand shakes with the effort of putting her own bones back in their rightful places. Just a few more moments and she’ll be able to knock Chuu back out, bring her to Haseul—

The moment the last piece of tissue begins to knit together, Chuu steps on her wrist again. This time, she does scream. 

“Ooh, I don’t think so, unnie. Not yet. I just need to make sure you’re not going to trace me home, all right? Promise me, please.”

“Not on your life.”

“We always have to do things the hard way,” Chuu pouts, pressing her heel deeper into Hyunjin’s arm. She lets out a sob. 

“You weren’t—you weren’t this strong in Eden,” pants Hyunjin, when she’s regained enough of her breath to speak.

“And as I recall, you were stronger.” Chuu tears off another chunk of apple and chews it thoughtfully. “Aren’t these corporeal forms so inconvenient?”

“What did Olivia do to you?”

Chuu giggles. “Trade secret. Try Falling, maybe you’ll find out. Now,” she continues, more seriously, “You’re not going to follow me, right, Hyunjin?”

Hyunjin just glares at her.

“I said,” she repeats, twisting her foot into Hyunjin’s skin, “You’re not going to follow me, _right, Hyunjin?”_

“ _No_ ,” Hyunjin chokes out. Chuu releases her and she weeps in pain and relief.

“Good,” says Chuu, and drops her clean apple core on the bloody grass in front of Hyunjin’s face. 

“But we’ll find you eventually,” says Hyunjin weakly, as she begins to heal her arm again. “We always do.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that,” says Chuu from above her. Hyunjin doesn’t even have the energy to raise her head; all she can see is the shadow that the Fallen angel casts. “We’ll be ready for you, Hyunjin.”

She begins to walk away.  Hyunjin can see her heels out of the corner of her eye, black and bloodstained. “Give the girls my regards!” she says cheerily. 

Hyunjin collapses the moment she is out of sight, and remains there, heaving in the grass, until she has enough strength to return home.

 

* * *

 

When she gets there, Heejin is curled up dozing on the couch, still nursing wounds from her tussle with Yves. _Tussle_ , Heejin says, like it was a small thing, like the saints weren’t involved and she didn’t almost lose her form entirely. It was a full battle, and Heejin says it was like nothing she’s seen in the loop before.

“We have a problem,” says Hyunjin. 

Heejin opens her eyes lazily. “Don’t we always?” 


End file.
